The Geography Blog focusing on all things geography: human, physical, technical, space, news, and geopolitics. Also known as Geographic Travels with Catholicgauze!
Written by a former National Geographic employee who also proudly served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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Monday, September 25, 2006

The Old New World Order

Remember when Catholicgauze had his crazy cartographic dream about redrawing the Middle East? Well, in 1941 Maurice Gomberg did something even wilder: he redrew the world and gave detail plans about how the "New World Order" would look.

Sun Bin already has made some key notes so I will point out the more interesting parts. Be sure to check out his blog to download the hi-res version of the map.

North America becomes a protectorate with the "option" of becoming an equal member of the United States. The Monroe Doctrine was alive and well in 1941.

The British Commonwealth does not become part of the United States of Europe. The question of whether the United Kingdom should become part of "Europe" still is a very controversial one. Europhiles and Euroskeptics still are battling each other for control of both the Conservative and Labour Party.

Roosevelt was more pro-Russian than pro-British. He made several comments that the war would not be fought to save the British Empire but he was willing to give Stalin a green light. This feeling must have been more widespread than I originally thought. India, British Africa, and the Falklands are lost. However, Stalin is given all of Eastern Europe including all of Germany and Austria plus Iran! Iran would give the Soviets direct access to the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean. The greater reason of the 1979 invasion of Afghanistan was to eventually secure seaports in the Indian Ocean. Imagine what Stalin could have done.

"Hebrewland" is established in Transjordan with land on both banks of the river Jordan. I am sure the ArabianFederatedRepublics will not mind.

Germany-Austria, Italy, and Japan are declared "indefinitely quarantined" and placed under a proto-United Nations control. Things get real scary when the Rhineland and East Prussia are "de-Prussianized." Lands like Elsass-Lothringen are given to France along with the Rheinland.

We Allies apparently had no trouble with the concept of ethnic cleansing. Systematic genocide was also cool with us as "a Population Control Policy shall be applied" in the loser countries to "reduce the numerical power" of the ex-Axis nations.

Foreign businesses and resources are nationalized according to the plan. This was made during the days of Keynesism and before people realized that planned captialism only works in the short term.

Just imagine this world. With all of Eastern and the most industrialized parts of Central Europe under the control of Stalin. With Americanized Imperialism instructing all Africans, no matter if they are Arab, Ethiopian, Congolese, or Afrikaans to unite (Rwanda was small and look at the problems from there!). And quarantined areas as models of Allied morals. While I support how we would fought to victory no matter the cost or time, was this the world we truly wanted?